MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES

I first saw this in Martha Stewart TV Program followed by Chef Wan Cookbook. I have book marked this recipe for a while but haven't got a chance to try.These quick, easy powdered sugar-covered shortbread cookies are known as Russian tea cakes or Mexican wedding cookies. 

Either way they're delicious, and dead easy to make.  MexicanWeddingCakes are a melt-in-your mouth shortbread-like cookie that goes by many names; a Russian Tea Cake, an Italian Butter Nut, a Southern Pecan Butterball, a Snowdrop, a Viennese Sugar Ball and a Snowball. 

They are very popular, not only during the Christmas season, but also at weddings, christenings, and other festive occasions.

This Mexican Wedding Cookies contain ground nuts (either ground pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, or walnuts).The secret to great tasting Mexican Wedding Cakes is to use a high quality butter and pure vanilla extract. - I used SCS butter since Golden Churn has been declared as non-halal product. Well.....you can try this to substitute with Macaroon as a wedding door gift.

I made this for the recent Raya Goodies for the orphanage home. 

Mexican Wedding Cakes Recipe:

Recipe adapted from joyofbaking.com

2/3 cup (65 grams)nuts(pecans,walnuts,hazelnuts)/2/3 cawan kekacang saya guna pecan

1 cup (227 grams) unsaltedbutter, room temperature / 1 cawan mentega saya guna SCS butter

1/4 cup (30 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing)sugar / 1/4 cawan gula ising

1 teaspoon (2 grams) pure vanilla extract / 1 sdt vanila

2 cups (260 grams) all-purposeflour / 2 cawan tepung

1/4 teaspoon salt/ 1/4 sdt garam

Topping:

1 cup (120 grams) powdered (icing or confectioners) sugar, sifted/ 1 cawan gula ising

1/4 cup cinnamon powder / 1/4 cawan serbuk kayu manis

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven./ Panaskan oven.
2. Toast Nuts: Place nuts on abakingsheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly brown and fragrant. Cool. Once the nuts have cooled completely place them, along with 2 tablespoons (25 grams) of the flour from the recipe, into your food processor, fitted with a metal blade, and process until they are finely ground (but not a paste)./ Panggangkan kacang, bila kacang sudah sejuk ambil 2 sdb tepung gaulkan dan kisar kacang sehingga halus.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes)./ Pukul mentega dengan gula sehingga kembang.
4. Beat in the vanilla extract./ Masukkan vanila.
5. Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined./ Masukkan tepung
6. Stir in the nuts. / Masukkan kekacang.
7. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about one hour or until firm. / Tutup dengan kain dan masukkan ke dalam fridge selama 1 jam.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.Form the chilled dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls and place them 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 12 -15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes./ Panaskan semula oven dan bakar cookies selama 12-15 minit dan sejukkan dahulu.
9. Meanwhile, place the 1 cup (120 grams) sifted confectioners sugar in a bowl. Take the still hot cookies and roll them in the sugar, one at a time. Place on a wire rack to cool. Or you can simply place the confectioners sugar in a strainer and sift the sugar over the tops of the cookies. Let cool completely before storing. / Golekkan kuih atas gula ising atau pun tapiskan gula ising ke atas kuih diikuti denganserbuk kayu manis. Ikut cita rasa masing boleh dibiarkan begitu aje ataupun dimasukkan ke dalam cawan kertas.

___________________________________________________________________________

Saya mula melihatnya dalam rancangan Martha Stewart, kemudian dalam buku recipe Chef Wan, nampak cukup menarik dan comel, bahanya pula mudah sama macam membuat butter cookies. Resipi ini popular disebelah Barat terutama Latin Amerika, sebab itu dinamakan Mexican Wedding Cookies, cookies ini biasanya dibekalkan kepada tetamu yang menghadiri majlis perkahwinan, sama macam kita membuat cupcakes atau pun macaroon untuk majlis perkahwinan. membuatnya mudah, tidak meranggam dan kalau suka semasa menapis gula ising ke atas cookies, boleh juga tapiskan sekali serbuk kayu manis. Yang ini saya dapt dari resipi Chef Wan, nampak lagi seri kuih ini.

Saya buat ini semasa Raya baru ini, saya mencari resipi yang tidak mudah hancur kerana hendak pack dan jadikan goodies Hari Raya untuk anak-anak yatim. Sedap cookies ini dan tahan lama.

Next Post - Bihun Sup Ayam

___________________________________________________________________________